Vikram VT21

Background

The Indian Army has made several attempts since late 2000s to replace its ageing fleet of infantry fighting vehicles. The first two attempts initiated in 2007 and 2014 failed to conclude in a contract in 2012 and 2019, respectively.

The third attempt was initiated on 23 June 2021 when the Army released a request for information to procure 1,750 tracked vehicles for its mechanised infantry arm at an estimated cost of ₹50,000 crore (equivalent to ₹560 billion or US$5.9 billion in 2023). The programme was designated as FICV (Tracked). Three variants of the platform will be acquired — FICV (Tr) Gun Version , FICV(Tr) Command & Surveillance Version and FICV (Tr) Command Version — divided with a proportion of 55%, 25% and 20%, respectively.^[4]

On 22 December 2022, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), under the Ministry of Defence, approved the acceptance of necessity (AoN) for the Futuristic infantry combat vehicle (FICV) project. The Ministry reaffirmed the requirement of a manned or unmanned turret equipped with an autocannon of at least 30 mm calibre as primary armament, a coaxial machine gun (7.62 mm) along with a top-attack anti-tank guided missile (ATGMs) launcher and remote-controlled weapon system (RCWS) with 12.7 mm machine gun. Further, the order was to be split between L1 and L2 bidders (lowest and second lowest commercial bidders, respectively) and commercial bids needed to be submitted before the commencement of prototype trials. Prototype was to be developed within 36 months. Orders will be split between the bidders in 60:40 ratio if L2 bidder meets the price of L1 bidder.^[5][6]

Development

On 28 January 2023, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) released a Request for Proposal (RfP) in search of industrial partners for the development of an Advanced Armoured Platform (AAP) with both tracked and wheeled (8×8) variants and a gross vehicle weight of 24 tonnes. Both the variants will be amphibious and equipped with compact integrated power pack with automatic transmission, modular ballistic and blast protection, NBC detection and protection and fitted for but not with advanced laser warning, detection and counter-measure system, add-on armour and interface arrangement for loiter munitions and mini UAV. Other equipment included advanced sensors including thermal and optical sights. A crewless turret with a 30 mm autocannon is also part of the weapons suite. The wheeled variant will have run-flat tires.^[7]

On 2 April 2025, it was announced that the chairman of DRDO and the Secretary of the Department of Defence R&D, Samir V. Kamat, undertook the metal cutting ceremony for the Advanced Armoured Platforms (AAP) — Wheeled & Tracked at the premises of TASL and BFL at their Pune facilities. The roll out of the tracked and eight wheeled prototypes were expected in October 2025.^[8][9] The tracked variant would be fielded for trials by 2026 with mass production expected from 2028. The development is a part of the Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicle programme. An amphibious variant is also planned.^[10]

The prototypes of both tracked and wheeled variants were rolled out on 25 April 2026 at the Vehicles Research & Development Establishment facility at Ahilyanagar in the presence of Samir Kamat. The variants are expected to serve the roles of infantry combat vehicle and armoured personnel carrier. The base variants can be reconfigured for various roles owing to its open-architecture^[10] layout. They have a current indigenous content of 65% which will later by enhanced to 90%. The vehicles are amphibous capable.^[2][11] The development was completed within a period of three years. The vehicles were also cleared by the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) for WH-AFV and FICV of the Ministry of Defence.^[1][12] The vehicle was christened Vikram VT21.^[3]

Armour

The DRDO AAP is based on a V-shaped hull to absorb mine and improvised explosive device blasts. It is expected to absorb explosions equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT. The vehicles are also equipped with modular protection ceramic-composite armour panels to protect troops from armour-piercing ammunition and rockets. The platform has a ground clearance of 500 mm.^[10] It provides blast and ballistic protections of to level IV and V standards, respectively, with respect to STANAG 4569.^[2]

Armament

The vehicle is equipped with an indigenously designed and developed 30 mm calibre autocannon-equipped crewless turret, a co-axial 7.62 mm calibre PKT machine gun and a launcher for two anti-tank guided missiles.^[10][2]

Powerpack

The vehicle will be powered by a 720 hp (540 kW) diesel engine with an automatic transmission.^[10]

Related Indian armoured vehicle developments

• Abhay IFV – Indian infantry combat vehicle
• TATA Kestrel – Family of Indian armoured personnel carriersPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Zorawar – Indian light tank
• Arjun – Indian main battle tank

Vehicles of comparable era, role and size